Help - Problem charging old UPS dead battery's

[TanTric]

Hello guys,

first of all, a couple of months ago a friend gave me a dead battery from an old UPS (that devices that can old and power your pc for 1 half/one hour when the electric system goes down)

the battery was 12V 7Ah, i tryed to charge it several times with my standard charger from the wall and nothing, then i tryed to charge it several times a la bedini charger, still nothing, then some members suggested that i removed the valves and fill them with destiled water, i fill them, tryed to charge them a couple of times, and zero, that battery will not take any charge, and will only show 7V (decreasing), even before 1 or 2 days charging.

now a friend gave me 2 more 12V 14Ah batterys that were in series (24V), one of them was with 13V and is working naice, another one was dead and showed in my DMM 0.5V... the funny thing is that battery was able to light my X 12 led panel, even showing 0.5V, so i assumed it was good.

the best part is, after i let it charge 1 entire day with the wall charger, the battery will only show 7V (decreasing), and now the battery cannot light my X 12 led panel, why before i charge it (it was showing 0.5V) and was able to light the panel, and after charge it cannot (showing 7V) ? will not increase more than that, no matter the charge time!

i will try to charge it a la bedini... but seems to me that this battery, is in the same state that the one i first mentioned!

anyone have idea what is happening or how can i bring this batterys to life?

the batterys are SLA (sealed Lead acid batterys)

hugs and thank you all

[TanTric]

....

uauu, guys i have just seen that now!

my damaged 12V 12Ah battery is cracking the plastic outside strocture, showing some white substance?

i think the fissure/fracture was not there before i put it to charge, but i am not shore.. i stopped charging it!

anyone is aware of an explanation for this?

[theremart]

UPS batteries..

Typically they do not stop charging the battery, and they dry out.

Some have had success in opening the top and dripping water inside...

One guy I now simply puts these batteries in a 5 gallon bucket with distilled water. I bet you could use a 1 gallon storage bag and fill it with water.

I have given up on these as I have found too many other batteries that are worth more time.

But overall I have not had much success with these batteries, The best results on restoring these came from Slayers007 joule thief charger. It seems to break up the sulfation very well.

[TanTric]

...

hi theremart, thank you very much for your post...

can you point me out the slayer JT charger? im not aware of that circuit... hugs

[jeanna]

charging with a joule thief

Hi juju,

I have spent the last 9 days in the very battery hole you are in.

I heard the charger start up one morning, and instead of stopping in 10 minutes as it usually does, it continued to be on for 5 hours. I pulled the plug and eventually opened up the battery pack.

(It is a xantrex 1500 which is a full power supply with 3, 12v batteries in parallel, an inverter and charger.)

Well, all 3 batteries showed to be under 10.5v, but one was at 9.36v.
I applied my jtc which I had rigged as a charger (I will look for slayer's in a minute) and as I said it has been 9 days, but now, I have 2 batteries fully reconditioned and recharged to where they hold the charge and one that is still under, but still growing.

Here is what I have been doing that is working.

I use the jtc charger, and the volts first go up then down, but I just keep it there until the volts are lower than they were before beginning that round.
Then I switch to a regular charger.
The volts jump up to a new, higher level and gradually go down.
When they reach the lowest point, again, I switch to the jtc charger.
These rounds have been taking about 8-12 hours.
Since I was reconditioning 3 batteries and only had 1 of each type charger, the timing was different in the beginning, but after a while it seemed that this worked the best.

Perhaps others have experience to share.

I was planning to share all this after it is finished, but you asked so I am sharing it now.


So, the short answer is use both types of chargers back and forth until they are charged.

jeanna

[theremart]

Link to slayers charger

There is also a thread on this forum search slayer007

Also look slayer007 on youtube he has great videos.

[sucahyo]

the best part is, after i let it charge 1 entire day with the wall charger, the battery will only show 7V (decreasing), and now the battery cannot light my X 12 led panel, why before i charge it (it was showing 0.5V) and was able to light the panel, and after charge it cannot (showing 7V) ? will not increase more than that, no matter the charge time!

I experience it too when charging with one diode. However it got better charge now after I use FWBR isolated with capacitor. The SLA I use show 10V and on successive days the charge seem to reduce but the charged voltage increase. And finally it no longer store charge, only voltage.

However, after I switch to FWBR with cap, it now can store charge again.

It seems FWBR work the same way as what Jeanna do, swapping radiant and normal charger. The benefit is you don't have to switch charger. However, I never compare it with jeanna's method. FWBR with cap also charge almost twice better.

my FWBR:


R1 is radiant positive output of first circuit. I usually use two.

[SeaMonkey]

For any who are interested in restoring/rejuvenating lead-acid
batteries go here:

Lead Acid Battery Desulfation - Message Board

SLA or Starved Electrolyte Sealed Lead Acid batteries can be
rejuvenated by carefully exposing the vents and adding distilled
water to re-liquify the electrolyte, then desulfating them
until their capacity is restored.

Shorted cells will be un-recoverable in most cases unless the
battery is a wet cell automotive or motorcycle style. Those
can often be 'flushed' to remove the accumulated buildup of
sludge at the bottoms of the cells before desulfating.

It's hard work and one must be aware of the proper handling
techniques for working with sulfuric acid (take precautions)
but the results can be very rewarding. All lead and lead sulfate
residue should be properly re-cycled as it is a potentially hazardous
material.

I have lead acid batteries over 30 years old that are
still perkin' along nicely. Desulfation is a great skill to learn.

[theremart]

RE: Desulfation board.

For any who are interested in restoring/rejuvenating lead-acid
batteries go here:

Lead Acid Battery Desulfation - Message Board

SLA or Starved Electrolyte Sealed Lead Acid batteries can be
rejuvenated by carefully exposing the vents and adding distilled
water to re-liquify the electrolyte, then desulfating them
until their capacity is restored.

Shorted cells will be un-recoverable in most cases unless the
battery is a wet cell automotive or motorcycle style. Those
can often be 'flushed' to remove the accumulated buildup of
sludge at the bottoms of the cells before desulfating.

It's hard work and one must be aware of the proper handling
techniques for working with sulfuric acid (take precautions)
but the results can be very rewarding. All lead and lead sulfate
residue should be properly re-cycled as it is a potentially hazardous
material.

I have lead acid batteries over 30 years old that are
still perkin' along nicely. Desulfation is a great skill to learn.

I have been to this board, and what he said about using a whole host of frequencies on batteries to hit the range of the sulfur on the plates made much sense to me.

Wow 30 year old batteries.

May I ask what method you have used that works well for you that you have found?

Thanks!

[TanTric]

...

jeanna, theremart, suchayo and SeaMonkey... thank you very much!

i will try the methods suggested and see what happens!!

hugs to all

[totoalas]

Slayer charger

hi to all
There is a simplified replication of Slayer charger circuit by Dodoshlodo on You tube RADIANT JOULE THIEF CHARGER 06 also the video comment by therlon Stark where he designed it for 12v car battery quick charging

I use a snap on toroid 30 cm dia by 40 cm wide

hope this help

totoalas

[theremart]

Video links.

hi to all
There is a simplified replication of Slayer charger circuit by Dodoshlodo on You tube RADIANT JOULE THIEF CHARGER 06 also the video comment by therlon Stark where he designed it for 12v car battery quick charging

I use a snap on toroid 30 cm dia by 40 cm wide

hope this help

totoalas

Yes that is a great video here is the link ->

YouTube - Radiant Joule Thief Charger 06


Here is the video that really got me started on this.

YouTube - dodoshlodo's Channel

[TanTric]

...

UAUU, great videos of dodoshlodo, good music and well explained! his he a member of the forum?

i will try his JT charger with my dead battery since i had no sucess with the bedini Solid state!

[TanTric]

...

so strange, im always having this "deja vu's" when i make my videos, looking at them, it feels i allready did this in the past exactly the same way!

guys i need help!

i did it!! finnaly brought my "new" 14Ah old ups dead battery to life ( the one that was cracking the plastic cover ) , it was dead after i let it 1 entire day in the wall charger sucking a lot of current, and nothing! i think that was the reason why it started cracking! now is taking charge but i need advice, can i cover it with plastic tape, and continue to use it, or is this dangerous? because it haves a big fissure in one side, as you can see...



the other one (gray colour) 7Ah, shows no resistance, and you can see in the video that with the battery connected at the charge side, i can climb the voltage to 50V, the battery dont want to take any charge (even after i fill it with destilled water) , any suggestion so we can do a miracle?

Enjoy! YouTube - JT CHARGER

this one goes to: dodoshlodo, jeanna, theremart, suchayo, SeaMonkey and totoalas!

"

[everwiser]

If you'd like to keep using it, you should drill a small hole at each end of the crack (to keep the crack from spreading further) and then you could seal the crack/holes with a two part epoxy for a permanent repair. Being the electrolyte is not quite a liquid, I think this would allow you to keep using the battery without leaking any of the acid/electrolyte.